Posts Tagged "t.v."

Almost everyone knows what Comic-Con is. Most people have never gone to Comic-Con, but it’s importance in launching new shows and movies by having panels full of actors and sneak peaks at new footage have given it a reputation. Comic-Con San Diego is an annual event dating back to 1970. The three focuses of the convention are comic books, films, and science fiction/fantasy literature. The con was set up to give these medias more attention, and with over 130,000 attendees in the last few years, the strategy is clearly paying off. It has been so successful in fact, that in recent years cons have been springing up all over the place, bringing fans closer to then ever to their favorite characters, actors, movies, and t.v. shows. It began with the expansion of the San Diego Comic Convention’s Cons to include APE, WonderCon, ProCon, and Con/Fusion. These days though, cons have become show or movie specific. Recent and upcoming cons include EyeCon, (The Vampire Diaries and The Originals) BloodyNightCon, (The Vampire Diaries) Asylum 12, (Supernatural) Wolfs Bane 2, (Teen Wolf) Ravens, (Pretty Little Liars and One Tree Hill) The Final Journey, (Stargate) Days Of The Wolf (Teen Wolf) and the Official Star Trek Convention. These are just a few. Not only are these cons creating a new revenue stream for these shows and franchises, they are also altering the way fans interact with the texts that are these shows and movies. Often at these cons actors, writers, and directors give hints to the fans about what coming up in the new season. They will talk about deleted scenes, artistic intentions and background information the the audience is not privy to just by watching the show. T.V. shows and movies are are texts with multiple authors. There are the producers who pay for them and want them to look a certain way, directors who shoot them according to their particular vision, actors who play parts based on the backgrounds and personalities they create alongside the writers, who come up with the specific story lines for every shot. With the emergence of these cons fans are able to get a behind the scenes look at the process like they never...

With the advent of Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Youtube, fans of T.V. shows and movies have been able to create and share works based on their favorite shows and stories with unprecedented speed and to more people then ever before. While this is not news, the entertainment industry’s brilliant use of these fan populated arenas to promote shows, movies, and individual actors is a fashion that has only recently taken off. While celebrities have owned twitter accounts and Facebook pages for some time, hoarding their million follower statuses like trophies, the emergence of actors and shows onto every platform available seems to be a recent occurrence. Take, for example, Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is a show from Fox in its first season. It features mostly unknown actors and no outright famous ones (unless John Cho is your guy and you’ve seen Harold & Kumar 100 times). While it had great buzz from the very beginning, the success of the show seemed to surprise the industry. Even more so then it’s initial success, its continued high ratings in the 18-to-49 demographic for viewing – a 4.9 once playback is accounted for – have beaten more established shows like Grey’s Anatomy and NCIS. This supernatural drama, Fox’s highest-rated fall drama premiere in six years, has already been renewed for a second season. All this begs the question: What is this show doing differently? While the content and writing of this and every show is an integral part of its success, this show’s complete immersion into fan populated social media may be equally important in explaining its staying power and popularity. Sleepy Hollow has a Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Youtube channel. The buck doesn’t stop here though. The shows writers also have a twitter, as do the shows stars, Orlando Jones, Tom Mison, Katia Winter, Nicole Beharie and John Cho. With so many avenues for communication and exposure more people are able to interact with the storyline and its creators then ever before! Its fascinating, fun, and addicting to be able to tweet Orlando Jones and have him answer you. You feel like part of the Sleepyhead community (the moniker the fan base goes by) and the show itself. You become more...